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The Collisional Orogeny in the Scandinavian Caledonides (COSC) project: Some results and current status
Author(s) -
Juhlin Christopher,
Almqvist Bjarne,
Lorenz Henning,
Hedin Peter
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
acta geologica sinica ‐ english edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.444
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1755-6724
pISSN - 1000-9515
DOI - 10.1111/1755-6724.13917
Subject(s) - orogeny , current (fluid) , geology , geography , paleontology , oceanography , tectonics
The Scandinavian Caledonides provide a particularly well-exposed example of a Paleozoic mountain belt formed by the collision between the Baltica and Laurentia continents. The opportunities offered by the Caledonides for understanding collisional processes are unique owing to the deep level of erosion (midlower crustal) and the paucity of superimposed post-Paleozoic deformation. The Caledonides are often compared to the present-day Himalayan continental collision zone. In the Himalayas, an understanding of the on-going India-Asia collision at depth primarily depends on indirect observations such as the interpretation of geophysical data and analysis of magmatic signatures. By contrast, in the Caledonides, it is possible to directly observe and sample the “fossilized” Paleozoic collisional processes that occurred in the middle and lower crust, from the foreland far into the hinterland, over a lateral distance across the orogen of c. 300 km.